Note 28 — HOGARTH.
Reading edition
That Sir John Gonson took a very active part against the Ladies of Pleasure, is recorded by more than one of their votaries: In "A View of the Town, 1735," by Mr. T. Gilbert, a fellow of Peter House Cambridge, and an intimate companion of Loveling,[A] I meet with these lines:
"Though laws severe to punish guilt were made, What honest man is of these laws afraid? All felons against judges will exclaim, As harlots startle at a Gonson's name."
The magistrate entering with his myrmidons was designed as the representative of this gentleman, whose vigilance on like occasions is recorded in the following elegant Sapphic Ode, by Mr. Loveling. This gentleman was educated at Winchester-school, became a commoner of Trinity College, Oxford, was ordained deacon, lived gaily, and died young. His style, however, appears to have been formed on a general acquaintance with the language of Roman poetry; nor do any of his effusions betray that poverty of expression so conspicuous in the poems of Nicholas Hardinge, esq. who writes as if Horace was the only classic author he had ever read.
Ad Johannem Gonsonum, Equitem. Pellicum, Gonsone, animosus hostis, Per minus castas Druriæ tabernas Lenis incedens, abeas Diones Æquus alumnis! Nuper (ah dictu miserum!) Olivera Flevit ereptas viduata mœchas, Quas tuum vidit genibus minores Ante tribunal. Dure, cur tantâ in Veneris ministras Æstuas irâ? posito furore Huc ades, multà & prece te vocantem Gratior audi! Nonne sat mœchas malè feriatas Urget infestis fera sors procellis? Adderis quid tu ulterior puellis Causa doloris? Incolunt, eheu! thalamos supernos, Nota quæ sedes fuerat Poetis; Nec domum argento gravis, ut solebat, Dextra revertit. Nympha quæ nuper nituit theatro, Nunc stat obscuro misera angiportu, Supplici vellens tunicam rogatque Voce Lyæum. Te voco rebus Druriæ mentis; Voci communi Britonum Juventus Te vocat, nunc ô! dare te benignum Incipe votis. Singulum tunc dona feret lupanar: Liberum mittet Rosa Lusitanum, Gallici Haywarda et generosa mittet Munera Bacchi. Sive te forsan moveat libido, Aridis pellex requiescet ulnis, Callida effœtas renovare lento Verbere vires.
The same poet, speaking of the exhilarating effects of Gin, which had just been an object of Parliamentary notice, has the following stanza:
Utilis mœchae fuit & Poetæ; Sprevit hinc Vates Dolopum catervas, Mœcha Gonsonum tetricâ minantem Fronte laborem.
Thus, between the poet and the painter, the fame of our harlot-hunting Justice is preserved. But as a slave anciently rode in the same chariot with the conqueror, the memory of a celebrated street-robber and highwayman will descend with that of the magistrate to posterity, James Dalton's wig-box being placed on the tester of the Harlot's bed. I learn from the Grubstreet Journal, that he was executed on the 12th of May, 1730. Sir John Gonson died January 9, 1765. He was remarkable for the charges which he used to deliver to the grand juries, which are said to have been written by Orator Henley. The following puffs, or sneers, concerning them, are found in the first number of the Grubstreet Journal, dated January 8, 1730. "Yesterday began the General Quarter Sessions, &c. when Sir John Gonson, being in the chair, gave a most incomparable, learned, and fine charge to the Grand Jury." Daily Post.
"The Morning Post calls Sir John's charge excellent, learned and loyal. The Evening Post calls it an excellent lecture and useful charge."
Three of these performances had been published in 1728.[B] Sir John's name is also preserved in Mr Pope's works:
"Talkers I've learn'd to bear: Motteux I knew; Henley himself I've heard, and Budgell too. The Doctor's wormwood style, the hash of tongues A pedant makes, the storm of Gonson's lungs." Fourth Sat. of Dr. Donne versified.
[A] In the collection of Loveling's Poems, 1741, are two by Gilbert. Loveling also addressed a poem, not printed in his works, "Gilberto suo," and in Gilbert's Poems, published 1747, is "A familiar Epistle to my friend Ben Loveling."
[B] One charge by Sir John Gonson is in the Political State, vol. XXXV. p. 50; and two others in vol. XXXVI. pp 314. 333.